Advances in how we design therapeutic platforms have enabled increasingly sophisticated approaches to treating complex and refractory diseases. However, a persistent challenge is not simply determining where a drug or drug carrier travels within the body, but understanding whether it is functioning as intended at the target site, and doing so in real time. Quantitative tools that report on tissue‑specific drug release, mechanism of action, and therapeutic engagement with biological components are essential for truly optimising treatment outcomes. This need has driven the emergence of theranostic systems that integrate diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities to generate spatially and temporally resolved insight into drug performance within living systems.
Our research develops materials engineering strategies that enhance the therapeutic efficacy of polymer nanomedicines while enabling real‑time functional imaging of drug activity. We design systems responsive to endogenous biological cues as well as exogenous stimuli such as visible and near‑infrared radiation, allowing dynamic modulation and monitoring of therapeutic action. In parallel, we employ bio‑orthogonal chemistry and pre‑targeting strategies to improve delivery precision and to support function‑linked imaging, where therapeutic processes, such as drug release, target engagement, or activation are directly visualised.
In this presentation, I will highlight our recent advances responsive polymeric nanomaterials that achieve enhanced tumour delivery together with real‑time visualisation of therapeutic function. By leveraging the multivalency and multimodal characteristics of polymer nanomedicines, we demonstrate how next‑generation theranostic designs can move beyond tracking localisation of a drug or vaccine candidate, to capturing action, transforming how personalised cancer therapies are evaluated and implemented.